Eurovision Song Contest 2018
|withdraw = |vote =Each country awards two sets of 12, 10, 8–1 points to their 10 favourite songs: one from their professional jury and the other from televoting. |null = |winner = |pre = 2017 |nex = N/A}} The Eurovision Song Contest 2018 will be the 63rd edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It will take place for the first time in Portugal, at the MEO Arena in Lisbon, following the country's first victory at the 2017 contest in Kiev with the song "Amar pelos dois", performed by Salvador Sobral. The contest will consist of two semi-finals and a final scheduled to be held on 8, 10 and 12 May 2018. Russia returned after withdrawing from the 2017 edition, following the ban of their representative from entering Ukraine, host country of 2017 contest. On 21 October, the Portuguese broadcaster RTP confirmed that 43 countries would participate in the contest, expecting the official confirmations from Moldova and Russia. This means that this will be the largest ever contest alongside 2008 and 2011. Although it was originally announced on October 30 that F.Y.R. Macedonia would not be participating due to an unpaid debt it was announced on November 17 that they had been given the go ahead to participate. Location Venue The contest will take place for the first time in Portugal, following the country's victory in the 2017 edition with the song "Amar pelos dois", performed by Salvador Sobral. After a bidding phase, the MEO Arena in Lisbon was selected as the venue by host broadcaster Rádio e Televisão de Portugal (RTP) and the European Broadcasting Union (EBU). The multi-purpose arena was built for the Expo '98 and has a capacity of 20,000 attendees, making it the largest indoor venue in Portugal and among the largest in Europe. It is located in the heart of the modern Parque das Nações riverside district, which hosted the Expo '98, in the northeast of Lisbon. It is connected by metro to the nearby international airport and by train (Oriente Station) to the rest of the country and Europe. Bidding phase and host selection On the day of the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 final, it was reported that Portuguese broadcaster RTP would accept the challenge of organising the 2018 contest in case of a victory. Following Sobral's triumph, the EBU's Executive Supervisor for the Eurovision Song Contest, Jon Ola Sand, issued the hosting invitation to RTP during the winner's press conference. The following day, the director-general of RTP, Nuno Artur Silva, confirmed that the broadcaster would organise the contest in 2018 and mentioned the MEO Arena in Lisbon as a likely venue to host the contest. On 15 May 2017, RTP appeared to have confirmed Lisbon as the host city, but clarified the following day that no final decision had been taken regarding both the host city and venue. The basic requirements to select a host city were set out in a document presented by the EBU to RTP following their win in Kiev: * A suitable venue that can accommodate around 10,000 spectators. * An international press centre for 1,500 journalists with adequate facilities for all the delegates. * A good distribution of hotel rooms, at different price categories, able to accommodate at least 2,000 delegates, accredited journalists and spectators. * An efficient transport infrastructure, including a nearby international airport with readily available connections with the city, venue and hotels. Besides Lisbon, other cities signaled their interest in bidding to host the 2018 contest: Braga, Espinho, Faro, Gondomar, Guimarães, and Santa Maria da Feira. The mayor of Porto, Rui Moreira, declared he would not be interested in "spending millions of euros" to host the contest, but he would support a bid from the Metropolitan Area of Porto (Espinho, Gondomar and Santa Maria da Feira). On 13 June 2017, RTP representatives met with the Eurovision Song Contest Reference Group at the EBU headquarters in Geneva. During the meeting, RTP officials attended a workshop covering several topics related with hosting the Eurovision Song Contest and learned from the experience of the Ukrainian broadcaster UA:PBC. They also had the opportunity to present their first plans for the 2018 contest, including multiple proposals for host city and venue. On 25 July 2017, the EBU and RTP announced that Lisbon had been selected as the host city, overcoming confirmed bids from Braga, Gondomar, Guimarães and Santa Maria da Feira. In addition, RTP indicated the Parque das Nações, where MEO Arena is located, as the site for the shows. Key To see the key, see them on Wikipedia: ''https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurovision_Song_Contest_2018#Location Format '''Semi-final allocation draw' The draw to determine the allocation of the participating countries into their respective semi-finals will take place on 29 January 2018, . The thirty-seven semi-finalists have been allocated into six pots, based on historical voting patterns as calculated by the contest's official televoting partner Digame. Drawing from different pots helps to reduce the chance of so-called "bloc voting" and increase suspense in the semi-finals. Participants Returning artists Semi Final 1 , and will vote in this semi-final. The countries highlighted qualified for the final: Semi Final 2 , and will vote in this semi-final. The countries highlighted qualified for the final: Finalists Other countries Further information: List of countries in the Eurovision Song Contest Active EBU members * – The Director General of Ràdio i Televisió d'Andorra (RTVA) announced on 14 May 2017 that Andorra would not participate in the contest, due to financial difficulties and the restructuring of the company. * – On 14 August 2017, BHRT confirmed that they are unlikely to take part in the Eurovision Song Contest 2018 on account of financial difficulties. The broadcaster has until 15 September to confirm its participation. It later confirmed that it would not be participating in the 2018 Contest. * – Steve Schmit, the Director of Programming at the Luxembourgish broadcaster (RTL) explained last year the reasons against participating in the Eurovision Song Contest. He also underlined that Luxembourg’s chance for success in the contest is limited, "I believe that (with) the enlargement of Eurovision, the days (of victory) are gone. With the new voting system, it is very unlikely that Luxembourg is successful. Small countries are somewhat more troubled now". Luxembourg last participated in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1993. * – On 31 August 2017 TMC, the Monégasque broadcaster confirmed that Monaco will not participate in the 2018 contest. * – Eríka Rusnáková, press spokesperson of the Slovak broadcaster Radio and Television of Slovakia (RTVS), confirmed on 11 September 2017 to Czech Eurovision website Eurocontest.cz that the country would not participate in the 2018 contest. * – On the evening of 12 July 2017, Sertab Erener, who won for Turkey in 2003, announced on an Instagram live chat that Turkey would return and that she wishes luck to the next representative. maNga, the 2010 Turkish representatives and Hadise, the 2009 Turkish Representative, also expressed their interests for Turkey returning to the contest. Despite these statements, on 7 August 2017, the Deputy Prime Minister of Turkey, Bekir Bozdağ, issued a statement stating that there are no plans for a return at the moment. The same day, TRT confirmed their non-participation. Associate EBU members * – Khabar Agency became an associate member of the EBU on 1 January 2016, opening up the possibility of a future participation. They broadcast all the shows in 2017. Furthermore the winner of the Turkvision Song Contest 2014, Zhanar Dugalova, said she would be interested in representing Kazakhstan in the contest. On December 22, 2017, it was reported that the country's Channel 31 had become a member of the EBU and were hoping to debut at the 2019 Contest. Non-EBU members * – The Israeli Broadcasting Authority (IBA) shut down on 9 May 2017. The new broadcasting corporation, Israel Public Broadcasting Corporation (IPBC), is not a member of the EBU. On 24 May 2017, IPBC applied to join the European Broadcasting Union. The application process is expected to be completed in December 2017, which may not allow Israel to have enough time to prepare an entry. Based on this, Israeli Broadcasting Corporation and EBU signed a temporary agreement that will allow Israeli participation in 2018. * – Kosovar media reports that RTK is hopeful that they will debut in the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest in Portugal. In an article published by RTK the Director of Television at the Kosovar broadcaster stated that he has received the support of national broadcasters across the Balkans to participate in the competition. However, both Bosnia & Herzegovina and Serbia have opposed such participation. * – On 1 September 2017, 1 FL TV, the national broadcaster of the Principality of Liechtenstein has confirmed that the country will not debut at the upcoming Eurovision edition in Lisbon. However on 4 November 2017, 1 FL TV announced that they are planning a debut in the Eurovision Song Contest in 2019. Commentators and spokespersons Commentators Most countries will send commentators to Lisbon or comment from their own country, in order to add insight to the participants and, if necessary, the provision of voting information. * – Myf Warhurst and Joel Creasey (SBS, all shows) * - Marianne James and Stéphane Bern (France 2, final) Non-participating countries * 'United States '– Michelle Visage and Ross Mathews (Logo TV, final) Incidents Chinese broadcaster censorship During the Chinese broadcast of the first semi-final on Mango TV, both Albania and Ireland were edited out of the show, along with their snippets in the recap of all 19 entries. Albania was skipped due to a ban on television performers displaying tattoos that took effect in January 2018 while Ireland was censored due to its representation of a homosexual couple on-stage. A spokesperson for the broadcaster's parent company Hunan TV said they "weren't aware" of the edits made to the programme but nonetheless the EBU terminated its contract with Mango TV. Ireland's representative, Ryan O'Shaughnessy told the BBC in an interview, "they haven't taken this lightly and I think it's a move in the right direction, so I'm happy about it." Stage invasion During the United Kingdom's performance, a protester ran onto the stage and grabbed the microphone from the nation's representative SuRie, which left her shaken. The man was quickly tackled by security and taken away. She was given the opportunity to perform the song again at the end of the show, which she declined. External links * Official website Category:Eurovision Song Contests Category:Eurovision Song Contest Category:Eurovision Song Contest 2018 Category:Contests in Portugal